How to Make Danish Pancakes with Ice Cream and Fruit Sauce. A Traditional Dansk Pandekage Recipe

When I was growing up my mother used to make Kale Soup then have Danish pancakes for dessert.  As children we used to cling to our mother while constantly asking when the pandekager were done.  Years later, if there is one thing our family still loves to eat is danske pandekager or Danish Pancakes. 

Danish pancakes are very similar to crepes.  However, traditional Danish pancakes are served as a dessert.  Also, it appears that the Danish pancakes are bigger in size than the crepes and possibly a little sweeter too.  

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• European butter for frying
• grated lemon peel 
• optional filling for the pancakes such as sugar, fruit or nutella

 

See our YouTube video to see how we made the Danish pancakes too! 

Cooking Utensils:

• a whisk or a fork
• small bowl
• spatula
• grater
• a large non-stick frying pan
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients (except butter) into the bowl.  Mix well until all clumps are gone.
2. Let the batter sit in a large measuring cup for 20 to 30 minutes. 
3. Now you are ready to start frying pancakes! Add a bit of butter to a non-stick skillet and heat until medium warm.
4. Tilt the pan approx 90 degrees and pour batter from the top. The batter will, run down and fill the pan from rim to rim. You can also pour the batter in the middle of the pan and quickly make circling motions to distribute the batter all over the pan. The goal is to have as thin a batter layer as possible.
5. Cook until the pancake is a bit stiff.  Before you flip the pancake be sure the pancake is firm on the edges. 
6. When ready flip over the pancake.  You will see it is nice and golden brown. Cook the other side for another 1 minute.  The pancake should be light brown on both sides.
7. When ready, remove the Danish pancake from the frying pan.
8. Repeat the steps until you have used up all of the batter.

The smell of danske pandekager on the pan is sure to attract everyone in the neighborhood.

In Denmark, pandekager are normally served at kaffetid (coffee hour) at 3 p.m. Formally we usually have coffee or tea with the pancakes.  If we have guests,  we serve the pancakes on our Royal Copenhagen China and our Georg Jensen silverware.  
 
Danske pandekager can be eaten in many ways. The traditional way is to eat Danish pancakes is to drizzle sugar or marmelade in the center of the pancake.  Then roll up the pancake into a roll. My favorite way, albeit the messiest way is with vanilla ice cream and home made fruit sauce. Please see our blog and YouTube video (below) on how to make home made fruit sauce too!

A more modern way to eat Danish pancakes is with bananas and Nutella (Chocolate hazelnut spread). We never had Nutella with our pancakes growing up in Denmark. It is probably the last 10 or 15 years that eating Danish pancakes with Nutella is a popular choice too.  

  Filling ideas:

• fresh fruit - cut up strawberry's, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, etc
• jam or jelly
• sugar
• whipped cream
• Nutellla

What's Your Favorite Filling?